There are many characters that it is practically impossible to imagine another actor playing them, especially when the movies or series they star in are icons of an entire generation. ‘Back to the future’ marked a before and after for Michael J. Foxy we have a hard time thinking about what another actor could have been Marty McFly…but Fox wasn’t the first choice the studio worked with at all.
Where we’re going we don’t need roads
‘Return to the future’ It was an unexpected success for Robert Zemeckis and the studio, so much so that it spawned an entire trilogy and turned Michael J. Fox into a Hollywood star. And yet, another actor was originally cast to play Marty in this teen comedy with time travel.
The original Marty McFly was Eric Stoltzwho had made a name for himself in Hollywood and would be nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in ‘mask‘. Stoltz went on to complete almost six weeks of filming, but it turns out that he had too serious an approach that didn’t quite work on the film or with his co-stars, so he was eventually replaced by Michael J. Fox.
Even though it was a good decision in the long run, Christopher Lloyd He was not very clear about replacing Stoltz and had his reservations about Fox joining the team.
“Stoltz is a wonderful actor, I had no idea they were going to change anything,” Christopher Lloyd recently recalled in an interview with GQ. “One night we were shooting the mall scene from the beginning and we were asked to go to one of the trailers at around one in the morning… [Steven] Spielberg was there and announced the change.”
This is very strong, Doc!
Of course, Lloyd’s doubts were not necessarily about Fox’s acting ability, but about his own, since he was worried that he would not be able to do the Doc and Marty scenes that he had already shot with Eric Stoltz as well.
“My biggest fear, because I was working so hard to get Doc to work…I thought I didn’t know if I could do it all over again, I was worried. But it all worked out in the end,” the actor continued. “They decided they needed someone with a comedic edge. And with Michael… we had this chemistry that stayed with us the entire time.”
Missing the train ‘Return to the future’ It did not mean the end of Stoltz’s career, who has participated in many films and television series since then. by his side, Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox they have remained friends since his work on the Zemeckis trilogy ended and have met often to celebrate film anniversaries.